Donald Trump - intent on brokering at least one peace deal between warring nations - declared Tuesday he turned down Vladimir Putin's offer of help with the Iran-Israel conflict, instead reminding the Russian President he needs his help to bring the war in Ukraine to an end.
Trump, interacting with reporter aboard Air Force One en route to a NATO summit in the Netherlands, claimed Putin called him and asked, "Can I help you with Iran?" The United States President said he shot back, "No, I don't need help with Iran. I need help with you."
And indeed he didn't.
A reality TV star-turned-politician, Trump has been front-and-centre in ceasefire talks to end Tel Aviv and Tehran's 12-day conflict, which at times threatened to spiral out of control and trigger an all-out war in West Asia, to add to the three years of death and destruction in Ukraine.
Trump: Putin called me: 'Can I help you with Iran?'
— Tymofiy Mylovanov (@Mylovanov) June 24, 2025
I said 'No, I don't need help with Iran. I need help with you.' 1/ pic.twitter.com/NakKVml9PZ
Trump and his team reportedly spoke to Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to settle terms of the ceasefire, but still had to talk tough after both sides appeared to violate the deal within hours of it being announced.
Shortly after Trump's first ceasefire announcement Israel said Iran had fired missiles, only for the latter to insist it had not. Israel then ordered retaliatory air strikes and fighter jets were airborne before a furious American President dropped a bomb, a F-bomb, of his own.
He raged at Israel and Iran for ruining his "complete and total ceasefire" plan, claiming that "they don't know what the f*** they are doing". An hour later he posted on Truth Social, "ISRAEL is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home... ceasefire is in effect!"
READ | "All Planes Will Head Home": Trump, Unhappy With Israel, Dials Netanyahu
And 48 hours into the announcement, the President's bluster seems to be holding Tel Aviv and Tehran at arms' length, with neither side having launched missiles at each other since.
It wasn't just publicly haranguing Netanyahu and Khamenei that did the trick.
The conflict that began with Israel firing a barrage of missiles - over 330 munitions carried by 200 fighter jets over five waves - at Iranian nuclear facilities, missile bases, and military infrastructure early June 13 ended with a bang ten days later, after the US dropped half-a-dozen 'bunker busters'.
READ | Dropped 5-6 Bunker-Busters On Iran's Fordow Nuclear Plant: Trump
Israel had attacked claiming Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons - a claim the latter vehemently denied, insisting its programme was for civilian use only.
Trump, negotiating a new nuclear safeguards deal with Iran, was initially hands-off, but set a deadline and was persuaded to act after Israel said it could not strike three nuclear bases buried deep within mountains in Iran. Only the US' 'bunker busters' could do that, Israel said.
The opportunity to simultaneously destroy Iran's nuclear programme by targeting the Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz facilities - which Trump insists his air strikes did, even though new US intel suggests it only dealt a minor blow - and bully Tehran into submission was too good to resist.
READ | Iran's Message As US, Israel Hunt For 400kg Of Near-Weapons Grade Uranium
But, after getting away with an air strike on an American base in Qatar - the US recognised a 'face-saving' attempt by Tehran and did not respond - Iran hinted its nuclear programme was not destroyed.
The "game is not over", sources close to Khamenei said this week, after it emerged that a stockpile of 400kg of 60 per cent enriched uranium is 'missing'.
Trump's Russia-Ukraine Headache
Meanwhile, the Iran-Israel conundrum solved, Trump is moving back to the big one - stopping Russia's war on Ukraine, a promise he made that got him elected to a second term but one not delivered so far.
The video of Trump's press gaggle on Air Force One, posted on X by Ukrainian minister Tymofiy Mylovanov also included Trump talking about meeting Ukraine President Vladimir Zelensky at the summit. Asked what he would say to him, Trump smirked, "I'd say, 'How you doing?'"
Q: Will you meet with Zelensky at Summit?
— Tymofiy Mylovanov (@Mylovanov) June 24, 2025
Trump: Yeah, probably I'll see him.
Q: What would you say to him?
Trump: Say ‘How you doing?' He's in a tough situation. Should have never been there. 2/ pic.twitter.com/MqGDhSvENw
"He's in a tough situation... should have never been there," the US President concluded.
Russia and Ukraine spoke face-to-face in May and June, for the first time in over two years, but there has been no real progress on a ceasefire that can actually hold its ground. In fact, missile and drone strikes have intensified, with Kyiv even attacking air bases deep inside Russia.
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